7threport of commissioners

8/8/2019 7threport of Commissioners

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Seventh Report o the Commissioners o the Supreme Courtin the case: PUCL v. UOI & Ors. Writ Petition (Civil) No. 196 o 2001November, 2007


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To: The Registrar

Supreme Court of India

New Delhi

Dear Sir,

We present the Seventh Report of the Commissioners in the case PUCL v. UoI and Others (CWP 196/ 2001).

This document contains the status of compliance of the centre and the states to the orders passed by this Court. It

also submits recommendations to facilitate better implementation of the schemes covered by these orders and in

general to alleviate the situation of hunger and starvation in the country.

In the preparation of the Seventh Report, we have been ably assisted by our young dedicated team of whole time

researchers, especially Biraj Patnaik, Principal Advisor to the Commissioners, Dipa Sinha, Oommen Kurian and

Tanveer Dar, to whom we owe whatever scholarship and analysis that this report has been able to muster. Prof.Jean

Dreze, Kavita Shrivastava and Dr.Veena Shatrughana have assisted in furthering our knowledge base both at the

eld level and through their theoretical conributions.

We are also deeply indebted to the network of State Advisers who voluntarily undertake the responsibility of

monitoring the food and employment schemes in the States.

Sincerely,

Dr. N.C.Saxena

Harsh Mander


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Contents

Introduction ......................................................................... ............................................ 4

1 Integrated Child Development Services ....................................................................... 7

2 Mid Day Meal Scheme ............................................................................... ................37

3 National Maternity Bene t Scheme and Janani Suraksha Yojana ...............................61

4 Targeted Public Distribution System and Antodaya Anna Yojana ...............................77

5 National Social Assistance Programme and Annapurna .............................................92

6 National Employment Guarantee Scheme ................................................................ 102

7 Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana ........................................................................119

Annexure .....................................................................................................................125


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Introduction

Food security is a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to

suf cient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy

life. 1

The right to food is the right of all people at all times to be food secure, and the principal duty bearer for the

enforcement of this right is the national (and in federal polities like India sub-national) governments. The right

to food as a fundamental human right has a strong foundation in international level and covenants, as well as the

constitution and laws of several countries including India.

The contemporary international regime of human rights was established by the problem of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly, 1948 which states that the recognition of the inherent

dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom,

justice and peace in the world (UDHR, 1948) 2

The same declaration recognises national governments to be the principal duty-bearers for the enforcement of these

rights. It states that if persons have human rights they are entitled to a fundamental claim that others must do, or

refrain from doing, something, since States speaking for States are primarily responsible for order and social justice

in their jurisdictions, States are the primary targets of these personal and fundamental claims 3

The most explicit reference to the right to food can be found in Article 47 of the Indian constitution:

Article 47 (Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health)

directs that The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and

the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring

about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purpose of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which areinjurious to health.

The limitation has been that unlike the Fundamental Rights, which are unambiguously justiciable, the Directive

Principles of state policy (of which Article 47 is a part) have moral rather than legal binding.

However Article 21 included in the chapter on Fundamental Rights Article 21 of the constitution, entitled

Protection of life and personal liberty, says, No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except

according to procedure established by law. Over the years, a series of judicial interventions and interpretations

have expanded the frontiers of this right to include several other socio-economic rights, including the right tofood, right to housing and right to work. The interpretation is that the right to life implies life with dignity, and the

complementary rights that are mandatory for the realisation of this right are also by implication fundamental rights.

Since life is biologically impossible without regular nutrition, the right to food has been widely recognised by

1 FAO (2003) Food Security- Concepts and Measurement , Trade reforms and food security - Conceptualising the Linkages, Com-FAO (2003) Food Security- Concepts and Measurement , Trade reforms and food security - Conceptualising the Linkages, Com-

modity Policy and Projections Service, Commodities and Trade Division, FAO, Rome, 2003, Available at http://www.fao.org/documents/ .

Also see Appendix 1for a detailed conceptual review of the terms food security, food rights and food sovereignty.

2 UDHR (1948), Universal Declaration of Human Rights , http:/www.unhchr.ch/udhr/index.htm

3 idib


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implication as a fundamental right.

However, in practice, in the past a great deal of ambiguity surrounds the actual justi ability of this right, which

depends ultimately on the discretion and interpretation of individual judges. In the event of progressive and

responsive judges, judicial intervention has cumulatively strengthened the realization of this right. The most

signi cant case in this regard is the Writ Petition (Civil) No. 196 led before the Supreme Court on 2001, by the

Peoples Union for Civil Liberty (PUCL), Rajasthan.

In this case, the Supreme Court through a series of interim orders, has held both the union and state governments

accountable for securing food especially of vulnerable populations. On July 23rd, 2001 the Court observed:

In our opinion, what is of utmost importance is to see that food is provided to the aged, in rm, disabled, destitute

women, destitute men who are in danger of starvation, pregnant and lactating women and destitute children,

especially in cases where they or members of their family do not have suf cient funds to provide food for them. In

case of famine, there may be shortage of food, but here the situation is that amongst plenty there is scarcity. Plenty

of food is available, but distribution of the same amongst the very poor and the destitute is scarce and non-existent

leading to mal-nourishment, starvation and other related problems.

The Supreme Court also established its own independent monitoring mechanisms to track both hunger and

governments performance across the country, through the device of appointing its independent Commissioners.

In more than six years of hearing, the Supreme Court has passed a number of signi cant orders to advance the

right to food of speci c populations, especially by creating universal entitlement to all children in government and

government aided primary schools to state funded hot cooked nutritious midday meals, and supplementary nutrition

for all children belong the age of six throughout the country. The effectiveness of civil and judicial intervention in

securing the peoples right to food can be assessed from the range of the interim orders of the court so far.

The Supreme Court Commissioners have submitted a series of six reports so far to assess the functioning of nine

food and livelihood schemes and the performance of the central and state governments to the Supreme Court.

This is the seventh report of the Commissioners in this series. It assesses based on data generated by various

governments, and independent demographic and other data, the performance of state policy for direct interventions

for food security of all its citizens, ensuring adequate food at all times for healthy and active life, and the

compliance of various governments in complying with the orders of the Supreme Court. These schemes introduce

rstly a variety of direct food and income transfers, such as supplementary nutrition to children below six years and

expectant mothers, midday meals for all primary school, old age pensions and food transfers death compensation

for bread winners and national maternity bene t schemes. Second there is the targeted public distribution scheme,

involving procurement, storage and sale of subsidised food grains. Finally, there are programmes of wage

employment more recently, work guarantee and public works.

In this report, we have tried to review the strengths of these schemes as well as the gaps. These include low

allocation and utilization, poor coverage, corruption, leakages, low standards of assistance etc. The state

also continues to deny the widespread persistence of starvation and destitution. Whereas there is remarkable

improvement since the case commenced, the highly uneven performance of the majority of state governments

con rms that the achievement of assured food security of all people, especially vulnerable social groups, cannot

be left to executive discretion alone. It must become a judicial legal entitlement binding on every government,


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union, state and local, if the enormous human suffering, indignity, economic and social cost and enduring injustice

associated with entirely preventable food denials and malnutrition is to be overcome, and hunger banished from

every home in the country.


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1 Integrated Child Development Services

1.1 Introduction

The ICDS is the only Government programme in the country that caters to the nutrition requirements and other

health, immunization and early education needs of the most vulnerable groups of population namely children under

six years of age, pregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls. The recent National Family Health Survey

(NFHS III) (20052006) shows that there has not been much improvement in the nutrition status of children in the

last eight years. While during the NFHS-2 (19981999) 47% children under three years of age were found to be

under-weight this number decreased by only one percent with 46% children under three years of age being under-

weight according to the NFHS-3.

This corroborates other comprehensive surveys conducted by the Government of India. The latest National

Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) data (20062007) show that there is a de cit of over 500 calorie in the

intakes of 13 years old and about 700 calorie among the 36 years old.

It is therefore extremely important that the ICDS programme reaches out to all the target populations and that there

are improvements in the quality and equity aspects of the programme ensuring greater effectiveness in dealing with

the problem of malnutrition.

The following report is mainly based on data available with the Ministry of Women and Child Development,

Government of India and the af davits led in Court by the State Governments in response to the order dated

December 13th, 2006.

1.2 Universalization

The instructions of the Supreme Court have been categorical to ensure the coverage of all children below six years,

all pregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls in all rural habitations and urban slums with all nutritional

and health services of the ICDS in a phased manner latest by December, 2008. The order of the court dated

November 28th, 2001 stated, We direct the State Governments/Union Territories to implement the Integrated

Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in full and to ensure that every ICDS disbursing centre in the country shall

provide as under:

(a) Each child up to six years of age to get 300 calories and 810 grams of protein

(b) Each adolescent girl to get 500 calories and 2025 grams of protein

(c) Each pregnant woman and each nursing mother to get 500 calories & 2025 grams of protein

(d) Each malnourished child to get 600 calories and 1620 grams of protein

(e) Have a disbursement centre in every settlement

Further, the order dated December 13th, 2006 states that The universalisation of the ICDS involves extending all

ICDS services (Supplementary nutrition, growth monitoring, nutrition and health education, immunization, referral

and pre-school education) to every child under the age of six, all pregnant women and lactating mothers and all

adolescent girls.


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Table 1.1 Coverage o Benefciaries under ICDS (06 years)

Sl. No. State/UT No. of children 6 months to 6 years

getting SNP*

06 year pop. as per AW survey

register**

1 Andhra Pradesh 3255815 5867191

2 Arunachal Pradesh 149241 88841

3 Assam 914369 3356205

4 Bihar 3463564 10545140

5 Chhattisgarh 1652830 2349402

6 Delhi 428922 614494

7 Goa 43726 107557

8 Gujarat 1741045 3854259

9 Haryana 1119039 1920665

10 Himachal Pradesh 347244 589178

11 Jammu & Kashmir 424768 898684

12 Jharkhand 1606592 3321359

13 Karnataka 3075047 4314630

14 Kerala 959868 2742781

15 Madhya Pradesh 3869502 6670504

16 Maharashtra 5108750 8262248

17 Manipur 259997 352352

18 Meghalaya 287773 274187

19 Mizoram 125681 136185

20 Nagaland 301539 284055

21 Orissa 3770595 4427112

22 Punjab 864528 1873831

23 Rajasthan 2594188 7093107

24 Sikkim 38620 44570


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25 Tamil Nadu 1862205 4156309

26 Tripura 233427 280038

27 Uttar Pradesh 16041539 20419884

28 Uttaranchal 538644 762747

29 West Bengal 2998314 6966367

30 A & N Islands 21106 27774

31 Chandigarh 32958 81300

32 D & N Haveli 11935 13394

33 Daman & Diu 6694 32302

34 Lakshadweep 5758

35 Pondicherry 29516 66744

All India 58185339 102795396

*Source: Status report of the ICDS as on 31.03.2007, MoWCD, Government of India

**Source: Status report of the ICDS as on 30.09.2006, MoWCD, Government of India


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Table 1.1 Coverage o Benefciaries under ICDS (06 years)

% children getting SNP (as a % of

no. of children as per AW survey)

0-6 year population as per

Census 2001

% children getting SNP (as a %

of no. of children as per Census)

55.5 10171857 32.0

168.0 205871 72.5

27.2 4498075 20.3

32.8 16806063 20.6

70.4 3554916 46.5

69.8 2016849 21.3

40.7 145968 30.0

45.2 7532404 23.1

58.3 3335537 33.5

58.9 793137 43.8

47.3 1485803 28.6

48.4 4956827 32.4

71.3 7182100 42.8

35.0 3793146 25.3

58.0 10782214 35.9

61.8 13671126 37.4

73.8 308585 84.3

105.0 467979 61.5

92.3 143734 87.4

106.2 289678 104.1

85.2 5358810 70.4

46.1 3171829 27.3

36.6 10651002 24.4

86.7 78195 49.4


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44.8 7235160 25.7

83.4 436446 53.5

78.6 31624628 50.7

70.6 1360032 39.6

43.0 11414222 26.3

76.0 44781 47.1

40.5 115613 28.5

89.1 40199 29.7

20.7 20578 32.5

9091 63.3

44.2 117159 25.2

56.6 163819614 35.5


**Source: Status report of the ICDS as on 30.09.2006, MoWCD, Government of India


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b. Pregnant and lactating mothers:

Fig 2

4.1

2.1

1.2

0

1

2

3

4

5

Estimated no. of pregnant and

lactating

mothers

No. of pregnantand lactatingmothers (A W

survey register)

No. of pregnantand lactating

mothers getting

SNP

The coverage is even worse if we look at the number of

bene ciaries among pregnant and lactating mothers. The

number of pregnant women and nursing mothers is estimated to

be 4% of the total population at any point in time as per ICDS

Scheme guidelines. 6 Based on 2001 Census data we can assume

that there are about 4.1 crore pregnant women and nursing

mothers. However, according to the anganwadi survey register

only 2.1 crore pregnant women have been identi ed and of

these about 1.2 crore women are bene ciaries of the SNP under

the ICDS. Hence, currently only about 25% of the eligible

pregnant women and nursing mothers are being reached out to

under the SNP of the ICDS, even if there are no leakages.

Incidentally, not even all or even the majority of SNP

distributed can be assumed to actually be contributing to

better nutrition for expectant and nursing women, because

the majority is in the form of take-home dry rations, which

research shows gets into the common household food pool, rather than be speci cally allocated in the household to

women.

c. Adolescent Girls:

In the case of adolescent girls too the coverage is abysmally poor. The adolescent girls are not part of the main

supplementary nutrition programme of the ICDS. The ICDS reaches out to adolescent girls mainly through two

programmesthe Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) and the Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG). The

KSY has been extended to cover all the blocks in the country. Although data on the number of bene ciaries under this scheme is not available, looking at the nancial allocations made for this scheme by the Central Government

to the State Governments/UTs for the implementation of this scheme one can make an estimate of how many girls

can be covered. Under this scheme, grant-in-aid of Rs. 1.10 lakhs per block is released to the States/UTs every year

for the implementation of KSY. Given that the programme is implemented in 6108 blocks, the total grant in aid

released would be around Rs. 6718.8 lakhs. According to the norms for per bene ciary per day allocation of funds

the amount to be allocated for adolescent girls is Rs. 2.30 of which the centres share would Rs. 1.15. Therefore

the budget allocated is suf cient to cover 19.4 lakh girls. In comparison, as per the census of 2001, the total female

population in the 1118 year age group stands at approximately 844 lakhs. 7 It is therefore estimated that only 2.3%

adolescent girls are being covered under this scheme, even if there are no leakages. The NPAG programme on theother hand covers undernourished Adolescent Girls in the age group 1119 years who are underweight (weight

6 This is the estimate used under the ICDS scheme itself. Vide para 28 and 29 of the ICDS Scheme quoted in para 2 of DoWCD D.

O. No. 4-2/2005-CD-I dated 7 February 2005 to Secretaries in charge of the ICDS in all States/UTs, the number pregnant women and nursing

mothers is estimated to be 4per cent of the population. If we estimate the number of pregnant women (roughly the same as number of births)

based on the crude birth rate of the population (population * crude birth rate), that would come to around 2 crores. Further, there would be as

many lactating mothers.

7 Sixth Report of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court


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< 35 kg.) where free foodgrains at 6 kg. per bene ciary per month are provided to them. However this scheme is

currently available in only 51 of the 604 districts in the country. 8 Adolescent girls continue to be an ignored section

under the ICDS scheme.

1.3 Malnutrition Among ChildrenNFHS 3The supplementary nutrition programme of the ICDS, along with other services such as nutrition counselling and

referral health services are aimed at reducing malnutrition among children under six. The recently released dataof the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 3) shows the current status of malnutrition among children under

three, measured in terms of weight for age. As seen in the table below almost half (46%) children under three are

underweight for their age in the country. Further, there has been almost no improvement in the percent children

underweight in the eight years since NFHS 2 when it was about 47%. In Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and

Chattisgarh the percent of children malnourished is more than half and in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand

this gure has actually gone up since NFHS-2. Chattisgarh on the other hand, although still has a high rate of

malnutrition has done comparatively well in the last eight years, with a fall in percent children underweight of nine

percentage points. The other states where the situation of malnutrition among children under three has worsened

are Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Haryana, Nagaland, Assam, Gujarat, Kerala, Sikkim and Goa.

8 All data related to the KSY and NPAG schemes has been uoted from the website of the Ministry of Women and Child Develop-All data related to the KSY and NPAG schemes has been uoted from the website of the Ministry of Women and Child Develop-All data related to the KSY and NPAG schemes has been uoted from the website of the Ministry of Women and Child Develop -

ment, http://wcd.nic.in


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Table 1.2 Percent o Underweight Children (under 3 years)

State/UT Underweight Children (Under 3 Yrs)

NFHS-2 (%) (1998) NFHS-3 (%) (2006)

Andhra Pradesh 38 37

Arunachal Pradesh 24 37

Assam 36 40

Bihar 54 58

Chatisgarh 61 52

Delhi 35 33

Goa 29 29

Gujrat 45 47

Haryana 35 42

Himachal Pradesh 44 36

Jammu and Kashmir 35 29

Jharkhand 54 59

Karnataka 44 41

Kerala 27 29

Madhya Pradesh 54 60

Maharashtra 50 40

Manipur 28 24

Meghalaya 38 46

Mizoram 28 22

Nagaland 2

Orissa 54 44

Punjab 29 27

Rajasthan 51 44


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Sikkim 21 23

Tamilnadu 37 33

Tripura 43 39

U.P. 52 47

Uttranchal 42 38

West Bengal 49 44

All India 47 46

1.4 Immunisation CoverageAs mentioned above, the Supreme Court in its recent order on December 13th, 2006 directed that ALL the services

of ICDS must be universalised. Here we look at the immunisation coverage based on the data of the NationalFamily Health Survey (NFHS-3) of 20052006 and also compare it with NFHS-2 (19981999) to assess the

improvement in coverage in the last eight years. At an all India level the percent of children who have received

all recommended vaccines is as low as 44%, showing little improvement of 42% coverage seen during NFHS-2.

Looking at the state-wise performance it is seen that the coverage is very low in the states like Bihar, Jharkhand,

Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and the north-eastern states Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. What is also

worrying is that in better performing states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat the coverage

under immunisation has actually fallen during the eight years since NFHS-2.

Ensuring full coverage of immunisation is a joint responsibility of the ICDS and the health department. While theanganwadi workers of the ICDS have role in motivating families to get their children immunised, the immunisation

will not be possible unless the ANM visits the village regularly and there is adequate supply of the vaccines.


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Table 1.3 Immunization Coverage

State/UT Immunization Coverage

(% of 1223 months children who have Received all recommended vaccines)

NFHS-2 (%) (1998) NFHS-3 (%) (2006)

Andhra Pradesh 53 46

Arunachal Pradesh 21 28

Assam 17 32

Bihar 12 33

Chhatisgarh 22 49

Delhi - 63

Goa 83 79

Gujrat 53 45

Haryana 63 65

Himachal Pradesh 83 74

Jammu and Kashmir 57 67

Jharkhand 9 35

Karnataka 60 55

Kerala 80 75

Madhya Pradesh 23 40

Maharashtra 78 59

Manipur 0 47

Meghalaya - 33

Mizoram - 46

Nagaland - 21

Orissa 44 52

Punjab 72 60

Rajasthan 17 27


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Sikkim 47 70

Tamilnadu 89 81

Tripura - 50

Uttar Pradesh 20 23

Uttranchal 41 60

West Bengal 44 64

All India 42 44

1.5 Universal Coverage o HabitationsThe Supreme Court in various orders directed the Government of India and the State/UT governments to ensure not

only that every child, adolescent girl and woman of required eligibility be covered, it also requires the scheme to be geographically universalised, or in other words that there is an anganwadi centre in every habitation. 9 Accepting

the submissions to the Supreme Court by the Commissioners that this would require at least 14 lakhs anganwadi

centres, 10 in the judgement of December 13th, 2006 it was stated that Government of India shall sanction and

operationalize a minimum of 14 lakhs AWCs in a phased and even manner starting forthwith and ending December

2008. In doing so, the Central Government shall identify SC and ST hamlets/habitations for AWCs on a priority

basis. However, the progress on the ground has been slow and unsatisfactory.

Table 1.4: Status o the Operation o AWCsAll India

1400000

1052638

844743

0

400000

800000

1200000

1600000

Number of AWCs 1400000 1052638 844743

No. of Anganwadi

Total AWCsSanctioned

No. of AWCsoperational as on

Source: Status report of the ICDS as on 31.03.2007 , MoWCD, Government of India

9 See order dated 28.11.2001 and order dated 13.12.2006

10 6th report of Commissioners and Letter to the Supreme Court from the Commissioners dated 19 July 2006 give details of how the

gure of 14 lakh was arrived at.


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Currently, the Government of India has sanctioned 10.5 lakhs anganwadi centres, of which 1.02 lakh centres were

sanctioned in December 2006. Therefore, an additional 3.5 lakhs centres have to be sanctioned for the Court order

of 14 lakhs anganwadi centres to be implemented. With the latest budget (20072008) not making an allocation for

these additional centres, it is impossible for 14 lakhs centres to be sanctioned and made operational by the end of

2008, as directed by the Court.

While there has been an increase in the number of anganwadi centres in the last two years, albeit not at a suf cient

rate, the process of operationalising these centres has been very slow. Further the Supreme Court in its order dated July 9th, 2007 directed that, The backlog has to be cleared immediately and the centres which have been

sanctioned up to September, 2006 shall be made operational and functional by July 15th, 2007 in the case of all

States except the State of U.P. where the last date is xed to be July 31st, 2007. Those centres which have been

sanctioned up to January, 2007 shall be made functional by September 30th, 2007.

The table below therefore looks at the status of operationalisation of anganwadi centres that were sanctioned up

to September 2006. The 1.2 lakhs anganwadi centres that were sanctioned after this period are not looked at here

as the deadline for operationalisation of these as set by the Supreme Court is September 30th, 2007, and therefore

there is still time.


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Table 1.5 Status o Operationalisation

S.no State/UT No. of anganwadi

centres sanctioned as

on September 2006

(Phase I expansion)

No. of anganwadis

operationalised

% of

anganwadis

operationalised

Source

1 Andhra Pradesh 66101 61761 93.4 As on March2007*2 Arunachal Pradesh 3037 3037 100.0

3 Assam 32075 31796 99.1 As per

Af davit

led in July/

Aug 2007

4 Bihar 80528 80101 99.5

5 Chhattisgarh 29437 28498 96.8

6 Goa 1012 1012 100.0As on March

2007*

7 Gujarat 41484 40888 98.6

As per

Af davit

led in July/

Aug 2007

8 Haryana 16359 16359 100.0

9 Himachal Pradesh 18248 18248 100.0

10 Jammu & Kashmir 18772 17767 94.6

11 Jharkhand 30854 30854 100.0

12 Karnataka 51614 51478 99.7

13 Kerala 28651 27980 97.7As on March

2007*

14 Madhya Pradesh 59324 59324 100.0 As per

Af davit

led in July/

Aug 2007

15 Maharashtra 74990 73996 98.7

16 Manipur 4501 4501 100.0

17 Meghalaya 3179 3162 99.5As on March

2007*

18 Mizoram 1592 1592 100.0

As per

Af davit

led in July/

Aug 2007

19 Nagaland 3035 2770 91.3 As on March

2007*20 Orissa 37480 36527 97.5


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However, the problem now remains at the level of the Government of India, which has to sanction another 3.5

lakhs AWCs (up to now 10.5 lakhs AWCs have been sanctioned) to comply with the order of the Court (dated

December 13th, 2006) that at least 14 lakhs anganwadi centres must be operationalised by December 2008. The

Government of India must be asked to present to the Supreme Court a detailed roadmap, along with time frame on

how it proposes to sanction and operationalise 14 lakhs anganwadi centres. It is also important that the Government

of India allocate the required amount of funds for the universalisation of ICDS to 14 lakhs centres and for all

services to be provided to all the eligible bene ciaries.

According to an estimation made in the Sixth Report of the Commissioners, the procedures adopted for the

recruitment of personnel, nalisation of locations of anganwadi centres and training of staff alone are anticipated to

take over a year to complete. It was hence recommended that to the extent possible, administrative procedures be

taken up simultaneously rather than sequentially to prevent delays in the expansion of the ICDS. The Government

must seriously consider this recommendation in order to comply with the order of the Supreme Court to sanction

and operationalise 14 lakhs anganwadi centres by December 2008.

1.6 Finances or ICDS

ICDS is a Centrally-sponsored Scheme implemented through the State Governments/UT Administrations with

100% nancial assistance for inputs other than supplementary nutrition which the States were to provide out of

their own resources. From 20052006, it has been decided to extend support to States up to 50% of the nancial

norms or 50% of expenditure incurred by them on supplementary nutrition, whichever is less. This Central

assistance has been proposed to ensure that supplementary nutrition is provided to the bene ciaries for 300 days in

a year as per nutritional norms laid down under the Scheme. 11

The cost of supplementary nutrition varies depending upon recipes and prevailing prices. However, the Central

Government issues guidelines regarding cost norms from time to time. The latest (since October 19th, 2004) are as

under: 12

Revised Rates

(i) Children (6 months to 72 months) Rs. 2.00 per child/ per day.

(ii) Severely malnourished Children (6 months to 72 months) Rs. 2.70 per child/ per day.

(iii) Pregnant women and Nursing mothers/Adolescent Girls (under KSY). Rs. 2.30 per bene ciary per day.

Further, the Supreme Court in its order dated December 13th, 2006 states that:

All the State Governments and Union Territories shall fully implement the ICDS scheme by, interalia,

(i) allocating and spending at least Rs. 2/- per child per day for supplementary nutrition out of which the

Central Government shall contribute Rs. 1/- per child per day.

11 http://wcd.nic.in/

12 ibid.


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(ii) allocating and spending at least Rs. 2.70 for every severely malnourished child per day for

supplementary nutrition out of which the Central Government shall contribute Rs. 1.35 per child per

day.

allocating and spending at least Rs. 2.30 for every pregnant women, nursing mother/adolescent girl per (iii)day for supplementary nutrition out of which the Central Government shall contribute Rs. 1.15.

Expenditure or SNP under ICDS: in relation to present benefciariesSince the central government releases funds to the states for SNP based on the expenditure of states for this purpose,

it is more important to look at expenditure rather than allocations on SNP. In this section we look at the actual amount

that was spent on SNP in the year 20062007.


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Table 1.6 Per benefciary per day expenditure on SNP: 20062007

State/

Union Territory

Expenditure on SNP in

20062007 (Rs. in lakhs)**

Total no. of SNP bene ciaries

(women and children)*

Per bene ciary per

day expenditure***

Andhra Pradesh 20830.23 4103963 1.69

Chandigarh 211.75 40345 1.75

Chhattisgarh 7017.56 2096058 1.12

Dadra & N Haveli 88.43 13955 2.11

Daman & Diu 63 8392 2.50

Goa 303.58 54485 1.86

Gujarat 7781.86 2042347 1.27

Haryana 7273.83 1405833 1.72

Jammu & Kashmir 2811.91 522958 1.79

Karnataka 19116.76 3752367 1.70

Lakshadweep 77.64 7516 3.44

Madhya Pradesh 17159.58 4724630 1.21

Manipur 1778.5 314597 1.88

Meghalaya 2092.65 341873 2.04

Mizoram 1365.21 154963 2.94

Nagaland 1798.71 349376 1.72

Orissa 7977.99 4494394 0.59

Rajasthan 15722.1 3252132 1.61

Sikkirn 521.77 46182 3.77

Tamil Nadu ^ 6235 2384946 0.87

Tripura 1711.9 271947 2.10

Uttar Pradesh 79421.07 19345747 1.37


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** Source: MoWCD Correspondence with Commissioners Of ce

*** Per bene ciary per day expenditure is calculated as (total expenditure on SNP#/no. of bene ciaries)/ 300 since SNP is

to be provided for 300 days in a year.

^ The gure for Tamil Nadu is misleading because this state spends on SNP also from a separate programme called the

Puratchi Thalaivar M.G.R Nutritious meal programme under which cooked noon meal is provided for children in the age

group of 2+ to 4+ for which Rs. 10756.21 lakhs was spent in the year 20052006

As can be seen in the table most states (for which data is available) are spending less than the norm of Rs. 2/- per

bene ciary per day. (the actual amount would be even lower considering that the norm for SNP for pregnant and

lactating mothers is Rs. 2.30 per day). Orissa is spending the least i.e. Rs. 0.59 per day per bene ciary. Uttar

Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chattisgarh are also spending much lower than the norm (less than Rs. 1.50

per day per bene ciary). Since the expenditure data up to March 2007 is not available for all the states, the average

spending at an All India level cannot be estimated with respect to 20072008. However looking at the pervious

year it is seen that the total expenditure reported by the States on SNP for the year 20052006 was Rs. 2142.70crores, while the total number of bene ciaries as on 31.3.06 was 5.6 crores. Therefore, it is seen that on an average

only Rs. 1.27 was spent per bene ciary per day on SNP in the year 2005 2006 while the norms for spending on

SNP is Rs. 2/- per bene ciary (Rs. 2 for children under six and even more for pregnant and lactating mothers,

adolescent girls and malnourished children). (for state wise details of expenditure in 20052006 see Annexure

2). This low expenditure on SNP per bene ciary per day could mean one or more of the following: (1) the actual

number of bene ciaries are lower than what is being reported by of cial statistics, (2) the uality of SNP being

supplied is poor, (3) there are gaps in the supply of SNP SNP is not being supplied regularly everyday.

1.6.2 Utilisation o SNP undsThis dichotomy between allocation and expenditure obviously means that the amount allocated for SNP is actually

not being utilised. In the year 20052006 of the Rs. 2818.63 crores allocated by states/UTs and the Government

of India for the provision of supplementary nutrition Rs. 2142.7 crores was spent, i.e. about 76% of the funds

were utilised. (Such an analysis could not be done for the year 20062007 because data was available only on

expenditure and not allocation).The states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Delhi, Tripura, Kerala, Punjab, Uttaranchal,

Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh utilised even less than 60% of the funds that were allocated for SNP. The states/

UTs that spent all the amount allocated (or even more) were the states (UTs) of Lakshadweep, Nagaland, Manipur,

Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Pondicherry, Haryana, A & N Islands, Karnataka, Dadra &

N.Haveli, Daman & Diu and Sikkim.


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Table 1.7 Status o Utilisation o SNP Funds 20052006

States/UTs Allocation (Rs. in crores) Expenditure (Rs. in crores) % Utilisation

Lakshadweep 0.08 0.60 802.66

Nagaland 9.53 20.08 210.72

Manipur 6.70 13.29 198.48

Tamil Nadu 35.70 57.78 161.85

Chandigarh 1.41 2.17 154.15

Mizoram 6.65 10.06 151.28

Himachal Pradesh 10.50 14.54 138.48

Pondicherry 2.51 3.35 133.44

Haryana 30.56 40.46 132.38

A & N Islands 3.11 4.01 129.06

Karnataka 109.79 127.19 115.85

Dadra & N Haveli 0.69 0.69 100

Daman & Diu 0.57 0.57 100

Sikkim 5.44 5.44 100

Uttar Pradesh 494.45 459.16 92.86

West Bengal 132.32 118.45 89.52

Maharashtra 249.64 206.77 82.83

Jammu & Kashmir 26.92 21.90 81.34

Jharkhand 157.12 127.11 80.9

Assam 66.00 53.38 80.87

Rajasthan 159.52 123.32 77.31

Andhra Pradesh 117.95 88.46 75

Meghalaya 32.01 22.79 71.19

Goa 4.46 3.15 70.74


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Orissa 121.78 76.22 62.58

Madhya Pradesh 154.20 94.58 61.34

Chhattisgarh 119.46 71.30 59.69

Delhi 15.34 8.40 54.72

Bihar 347.80 189.89 54.6

Tripura 14.47 7.84 54.15

Kerala 89.27 47.03 52.69

Punjab 47.06 24.36 51.76

Uttaranchal 33.66 15.23 45.25

Gujarat 200.41 81.99 40.91

Arunachal Pradesh 11.56 1.13 9.81

Total 2818.63 2142.70 76.02

Apart from actual expenditure, committed liability of Rs. 1032.59 Lakhs in the year 20052006 has been reported by

Arunachal Pradesh.

Source: MoWCD Correspondence with Commissioners Of ce. (See available data for 20062007 in Annexure 4)

1.6.3 Allocations RequiredWhile the data on state/UT contributions is not available for 20062007, the budget released by Government

of India for this year is about Rs. 1520 crore works out to a contribution of Rs. 0.71 per bene ciary per day,

still below the norm of Rs. 1/- per bene ciary per day. 13 Further, considering that according to the norms of the

government each anganwadi centre is to cater to a total of 100 bene ciaries comprising of 80 children and 20

pregnant and lactating mothers the following calculation is made: 14

No. of operational centres: 8.4 lakhs

No. of bene ciaries to be catered to (according to norms): 15

8.4 lakhs*100 = 8.4 crore No. of days SNP is to be provided: 300 days

13 Here, the per day per bene ciary allocation is calculated on the basis of 7.05 crore bene ciaries which is the no. of bene ciaries

(children + women) as on 31.03.2007

14 The Supreme Court in its order dated October 2004 states that all the State Governments/Union Territories shall allocate funds for

ICDS on the basis of norm of one rupee per child per day, 100 bene ciaries per AWC and 300 days feeding in a year, i.e., on the same basis

on which the Centre make the allocation . (October 7th, 2004).

15 If the ICDS were to be universalised to cover all children under 6, all pregnant and lactating mothers and all adolescent girls, then

the norm of 100 bene ciaries per anganwadi centre would be an underestimate, and the reuired funds for SNP would be even higher.


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Required minimum allocation by Government of India for SNP (in 20062007):

8.4*300 = Rs. 2520 crores

Required allocation in 2007-08 if 10.4 lakhs AWCs are operationalised:

10.5*300 = Rs.3150 crores

Required if 14 lakhs AWCs are operationalised according to Court orders:

14*300 = Rs. 4200 crores

Further, each state government would have to spend an equal amount to be able to eligible for such a contributionfrom the Government of India. (See Annexure 4 for state-wise details)

While the previous sections look at the allocation and expenditure of funds in relation to the existing number

of bene ciaries, there is also a need to estimate the amount of funds reuired should the ICDS services be

universalised to cover every child under six. The funds allocated by State/UT Governments for supplementary

nutrition are hugely inadequate to cover all children under six years of age. It may be noted that the amounts

allocated are nowhere near adequate even for the 06 year old population of the States, which is only one of the 4

broad groups of bene ciaries that the ICDS is intended to cater to. If, for the purpose of analysis, the entire fund

for SNP is regarded as an SNP fund for 06 year olds alone, then the shortfall of funds is to the tune of 71% of funds that should have been allocated as per norms. It may be emphasised that if allowance is made for rightful

bene ciaries of the other three categories, namely pregnant women, nursing mothers and adolescent girls, the

magnitude of the shortfall will shoot up further by several counts.

Table 1.8 Short all o SNP unds with re erence to the 06 population

06 population as per

2001 Census

( gures in crores)

Amount required to

be allocated for the

0-6 population (inRs. crores)#

Amount allocated in

2005-2006 (in Rs.

crores) (Centre +State)*

% Shortfall

Total 16.38 9829.17 2818.63 71.3

# Reuired funds = (total 0-6 year old population) (Re.2 per child per day) (300 days).

* Source: MoWCD Correspondence with Commissioners Of ce

(See Annexure 5 for state-wise details)

1.7 Banning O Contractors or SNPThe October 7th, 2004 order of the Supreme Court states, contractors shall not be used for supply of nutrition in

Anganwadis and preferably ICDS funds shall be spent by making use of village communities, self-help groups and

Mahila Mandals for buying of grains and preparation of meals.

In terms of the supply of supplementary nutrition, it is to be observed that widely varying systems of procurement

and supply of supplementary nutrition are adopted by different States. Broadly, there are three kinds of sources

of supply of SNP (or raw material for SNP) that is seen: (1) Contractors/Manufacturers/Wholesale Dealers who


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are given contracts based on open tenders, (2) Self Help Groups or procuring through locally formed committees

at the level of the AWC, block or district and (3) co-operative societies or government undertakings such as state

Civil Supply Corporations. Some states such as Maharashtra, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh have indicated that they

are working towards a system where contractors are not used for the supply for SNP in compliance with Supreme

Court orders. Of the 25 states/UTs for which data is available, Chandigarh, Daman&Diu, Madhya Pradesh,

Mizoram, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Utaranchal are still using private traders/contractors

for the supply for SNP, in de ance of the Supreme Court orders.


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Table 1.9 System o Procurement, Storage And Distribution O SNP

State/UTs Contractors/Manufacturers/

Wholesale Dealers

SHGs/Local

Procurement

Co-operative Societies/Govt.

Undertakings/Marketing Federations

Andhra Pradesh (in 159 projects)

Assam

Bihar

Chandigarh

Chhattisgarh w.e.f 1.4.2007

Daman & Diu

Delhi

Goa

Gujarat

Haryana w.e.f 31.12.2006

Jharkhand

Lakshadweep

Madhya Pradesh directed districts to stop using

contractors once existing

contracts expire

Maharashtra

Manipur w.e.f 29.12.2006

Meghalayadistrict level

committees

Mizoram

Orissa

Punjab

Rajasthan

Sikkim


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Tamil Nadu 35% weaning food outsourced

on annual tender basis

Uttar Pradesh in 20 blocks, to

be expanded in

a phased manner

Uttaranchal WFP

West Bengal

*Source: MoWCD correspondence with Commissioners Of ce and af davits of State Governments to Supreme Court

1.8 Coverage o SC/ST hamletsSupreme Court order dated October 7th, 2004 states that all SC/ST habitations should have an anganwadi as

early as possible. Further, until the SC/ST population is fully covered, all new anganwadis should be located inhabitations with high SC/ST populations . The ICDS guidelines envisage that in the selection of projects in rural

areas priority consideration will be given, inter-alia, to areas predominantly inhabited by SC and ST populations.

Further, in response to the order of the Supreme Court letters have been sent to all state governments from the

Government of India instructing them to adhere to these guidelines and ensure that areas with majority SC/

ST populations be selected for setting up of new AWCs. (Letters No. 4-2/2005 CDI dt. 4 July 2005 D.O. No.

4-2/2005-CD-1 dt. 7 February 2005 No, 14-1/2004-CD-1 (VoL II), dt. 10 January 2007). However there is no

system of verifying this as the data is not disaggregated on caste basis.

In the order of December 13th, 2006 it was stated that the Central Government shall identify SC and SThamlets/habitations for AWCs on a priority basis . Further this order also stated, Chief Secretaries of all

State Governments/UTs are directed to submit af davits with details of all habitations with a majority of SC/

ST households, the availability of AWCs in these habitations, and the plan of action for ensuring that all these

habitations have functioning AWCs within two years.

However, only some of the state governments had this information in the af davits submitted to the Court (as seen

in the table below).


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Table 1.11 Coverage o SC/ST habitations

State No. of SC/ST habitations No. with AWC No. without AWC

Bihar 25522 22289 3233

Uttar Pradesh 31808 28482 3326

Tamil Nadu 9760 8817 943

West Bengal 13993 9367 4626

Madhya Pradesh 17153 12985 4168

Gujarat 10026

Goa 251

Assam 8818

Orissa 4167 (in 9 districts)

From the table above it seems that in the states for which data is available majority of SC/St habitations have been

covered under the ICDS scheme. However, this data is insuf cient and in future data must be collected by the

governments to understand the availability of AWCs in SC/ST habitations and also the no. of SC/ST bene ciaries

among all bene ciaries.

1.8.1 Coverage o GirlsSimilarly disaggregated data on the basis of the sex of the bene ciaries of SNP must also be collected. Currentlythis is available only for pre-school bene ciaries, and this shows that 49% of the pre-schoolers under ICDS are

girls. (for details see Annexure 6)

1.9 Summary o Compliance

The table below summarises the status of compliance vis--vis some of the important orders of the Supreme Court in

relation to ICDS. The Honble Court passed orders in relation to the ICDS on November 28 th, 2001, April 29 th, 2004,

October 7 th, 2004 and December 13 th, 2006 are looked at. Based on the report above, the following table summarises

the status of compliance vis--vis each of the major orders that were passed.


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Table 1.12 Status o Compliance

Order Status of Compliance

Have a disbursement centre in every settlement (Nov.

2001) Increase the no. of AWCs to 14 lakhs (Oct.

2004 and Dec. 2006)

Presently 10.4 lakhs AWCs sanctioned. An additional

3.5 lakhs centres must be sanctioned and operationalised

by December 2008

Operationalise all AWCs immediately (April 2004),

Operationalise 14 lakhs AWCs by December 2008

(Dec 2006)

Currently most of the sanctioned anganwadis have been

operationalised. In order to meet the deadline set by the

Court to sanction and operationalise 14 lakh AWCs by

December 2008, 3.5 lakhs more anganwadis must be

sanctioned and the process of operationalisation of new

centres needs to be quickened.

All SC/ST habitations to have an AWC (Oct 2004)

SC/ST habitations to be given priority, (Dec 2006)

SC/ST Habitation survey is yet to be conducted in most

states. Field reports suggest that many SC/ST habita-

tions do not have an AWC.

Cover every child, pregnant and lactating mother and

adolescent girl (Nov. 2001 Dec 2006)

Presently, One-third of children under six, one-fourth of

pregnant and lactating mothers and only 2.3% adoles-

cent girls being covered under SNP.

All the State Governments/Union Territories shall

allocate funds for ICDS on the basis of norm of one

rupee per child per day, 100 bene ciaries per AWC

and 300 days feeding in a year, i.e., on the same

basis on which the Centre make the allocation. (Oct.

2004). Allocations later increased to Rs. 2 per day for

children under-6 (Dec 2006) The Dec 2006 order also

states that the allocated amount must be spent.

Shortfall to the tune of Rs. 1200 crore (to be shared on

a 50-50 basis between Government of India and State

Governments) for SNP based on the norm of 100 bene -

ciaries per AWC, this increases manifold when estimates

are made for universalisation to cover every child (as di-

rected by the Court in other orders). Further, utilisation

of funds in 2005-06 has been 76% and the amount actu-

ally spent per day per bene ciary is Rs. 1.27. (against

the norm of Rs. 2)

ICDS services not be restricted to BPL families (Oct.

2004

Instructions to this effect sent to all state governments

from MoWCD vide letter no: 19-5/2003-CD-1 (Pt) dated

29.11.2005 and again reiterated in letter dated 7.3.2006.

The vacancies for the operational ICDS shall be lled

(Oct 2004

As on 30.09.2006, of the 8048 CDPO posts sanctioned,

only 5406 were in position (37.3% positions vacant)of 41739 sanctioned posts of supervisors, only 25085

were lled (39.9% posts vacant) and of the 946060 posts

of AWWs sanctioned, 769582 were in position (18.6%

vacant)1.

Cover Slums under ICDS (Oct. 2004) Presently, One-third of children under-6, one-fourth of

pregnant and lactating mothers and only 2.3% adoles-

cent girls being covered under SNP.


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Contractors not to be used for supply of SNP (Oct

2004)

Contractors still in use openly or indirectly in many

states

1.10 Quality o ICDS

While the above sections look at the outreach of ICDS services in terms of number of habitations and bene ciaries

reached and the nancial allocations and expenditures on ICDS, it is also important look at the uality of the provision of these services. Extending coverage under ICDS is not enough and a radical improvement in the quality

of ICDS services is also required. The real objective should be universalisation with quality and equity . The

quality of ICDS varies a great deal between different states, and sometimes even between different Anganwadis

within the same state. The uality of AWCs is seen on the basis of reports of some eld studies.

1.10.1 Physical In rastructure

It is seen that in terms of physical infrastructure such as the buildings AWCs are located in, availability of toilet

and drinking water facilities, weighing scales, medicine kits, pre-school education material etc. the anganwadi

centres in the country are very poorly equipped. For instance, according to a Rapid Facility Survey of ICDS

conducted by NCAER, more than 40% AWCs (Anganwadi Centres) across the country are neither housed in ICDS

building nor in rented buildings. Only one-third of the anganwadis are housed in ICDS building and another one-

fourth are housed in rented buildings. As regards the status of anganwadi building, irrespective of own or rented,

more than 46% of the anganwadis were running from pucca building, 21% from semi-pucca building, 15% from

kutcha building and more than 9% running from open space. 16 Further, the survey data reveals that more than 45%

anganwadis have no toilet facility and only 39% anganwadis reported availability of hand-pumps.

1.10.2 Outreach to Children under 317

The ICDS has been weak in addressing the needs of children below the age of three years, when this is exactly that

stage of the life-cycle where malnutrition is most likely to set in, and its consequence most grave and enduring and

in many cases irreversible. If ICDS is to seriously impact on child malnutrition, it needs to focus on management of

severe malnutrition in the 03 age group. Supplementary nutrition, for this age group, should be not just foodgrain,

as is the case in many parts of the country, but specially prepared weaning foods made from nutritious locally

grown food appropriate for this age-group.

This is turn means that the bulk of the activities of the AWC should focus on the families in the community. The

training and supervision of the AWW should prepare her to make regular, focused, structured home visits. Thesevisits would be to homes with expectant mothers, infants and young children, especially in critical periods such

as the last trimester of pregnancy, the day of delivery, the rst month after birth, 69 months and 912 months.

In these visits, she would attempt to educate and build capacities of families regarding infant and young feeding

practices, newborn care and the nutrition needs of women. To be able to make such regular home visits and provide

breastfeeding support and nutrition counseling, there should be two anganwadi workers in every anganwadi centre.

16 Main results of the Rapid Facility Survey of Infrastructure at Anganwadi Centres conducted by NCAER is available at http://wcd.

nic.in

17 This section draws heavily from Promises to Keep: ICDS at Crossroads , Harsh Mander


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Evaluation o ICDS by NIPCCD,

Ministry o Women and Child Development

In rastructure Availability of sanitation facilities is most crucial for reducing mortality and mobility in rural and tribal areas. Data

from the study showed that only 31% of the households had toilet facilities. Sewage/drainage system was reported

in 30% of villages under regular ICDS Projects whereas 27% of villages of those projects, which were assisted by World Bank, were having such facilities. Out of ten villages, 4 (40%) of projects covered by NGOs had these

facilities also. While around 41% of Anganwadis had toilet facilities, 17% of these facilities were not found to be in

good condition and 59% AWCs were even deprived of this amenity.

It was found that educational facility of lower primary school (class I-V) existed in nine out of 10 villages (90%).

Middle school (VI-VIII) facility was available in 61% of villages whereas high schools were functioning in 39% of

sample areas.

About 97% Anganwadi Centres in urban areas, 93% in rural areas and 74% in tribal areas were connected by roads.Primary Health Centres and sub-centres were available in 29% and 43%, respectively, in Anganwadi areas. Data

thus reveals that accessibility to important services of health was limited.

Data also revealed that around 89% of rural project areas, 94% urban and 68% of the tribal project areas had

telephone facilities. Another interesting information was availability of LPG in 72% of the Anganwadi areas.

Hand pumps and tap water were the main sources of water in majority of the Anganwadi Centres, thereby bringing

home the point that ICDS programme has succeeded, to a large extent, in arranging safe drinking water for the

children attending Anganwadis in collaboration with Public Health Engineering Department of State Governments.

It was gratifying to note that majority of the Anganwadi Centres were located in pucca buildings. It re ects that

efforts have specially been made in housing Anganwadi Centres in pucca buildings. However, space was found to

be a problem in most of the Anganwadi Centres in urban areas. Adequate outdoor and indoor space and separate

space for storage was available in only 44, 36% and 39% Anganwadi Centres. This situation was found to be little

better in rural and tribal areas. Overall, about 49% of the Anganwadi Centres had inadequate space for outdoor and

indoor activities and 50% had no separate space for storage of various materials. Around half (49.0%) of the rural

and tribal (50.6%) projects and 40% of urban projects had adequate cooking space separately.

Most of the AWCs (60.3%) were found to be easily accessible to children as they were brought either by their parents/siblings/older ladies of the locality to the Anganwadi Centres. Helpers mainly concentrated in bringing

newly admitted children to Anganwadis.

Weighing scales were available in 97% Anganwadis of World Bank-assisted ICDS Projects, followed closely by

NGO run projects (95.3%) and 85% of regular ICDS projects. Around 89% of them were in working condition

also.

Non-availability of the kits in 44% of the Centres is a matter of concern and this aspect needs to be looked into


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by the programme implementors carefully. Availability of adequate number of cooking and serving utensils in the

Anganwadi Centres is of paramount importance for the success of the nutrition programme. The study revealed that

cooking utensils were available in 61.8% of rural, 49.2% of urban and 65.9% of tribal projects.

Profle o Functionaries

It was gathered that 15% positions of Child Development Project Of cers (CDPOs), 48% of Assistant Child

Development Project Of cers (ACDPOs) and about 18% of Supervisors were vacant in the surveyed projects.

However, the position with regard to the appointment and availability of AWWs and Helpers has been quite

satisfactory. The training status has been quite satisfactory. It was observed that Arunachal Pradesh was the only

State where 50% CDPOs were untrained. In other states, by and large, training of functionaries has been highly

satisfactory.

Selection o AWWsIt was found that around 80% of the Anganwadi Workers belonged to the same village/locality. However, wide

variations were observed on this aspect between projects supported by World Bank, NGO operated and regular

ICDS.

Data on age of AWWs depicts that about 66% of AWWs were 35 years and above. Percentage of AWWs in regular

and World Bank assisted ICDS projects was evenly divided in the age-group 3545 years while 30% of AWWs

were in the age-group 2535 years.

62% of the AWWs had work experience over 10 years whereas 28% of them had experience of more than ve

years. Majority (43.2%) of the AWWs were matriculate, 23% Higher Secondary and about 10% graduates. There

were hardly any illiterate workers, their percentage being around one only.

Supervisors

It was found that direct, promotion from amongst AWWs and deputation from line departments and contractual

appointment of Supervisors under World Bank Scheme was carried out in States like Uttar Pradesh. In 25 States of

India, supervisors were promoted to the post of CDPO/ACDPO. Policy of reservation of seats was existing in 21

States and seven States did not adopt any such policy. A large majority of the supervisors were above the age of 35,

either graduates or post graduates and possessed experience of more than 10 years. This is a positive sign as ICDS

seems to be managed by experienced and uali ed supervisors.

Child Development Project O fcers (CDPOs)

xiv) Data show that 21 states had exclusive cadre of CDPOs whereas 10 states had a joint cadre comprising

deputation, promotion and contract. In all, 25 states had adopted the policy of promotion of Supervisors to the post

of CDPOs/ACDPOs. Mode of recruitment in terms of reservation was reported to be followed as per orders of State

Governments issued from time to time.

Though the guidelines of the scheme envisages that CDPO should preferably be a female, yet it was observed that

about one-third (32.7%) of CDPOs were males.


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Most of the CDPOs (48.3%) were in the age group 4555, followed by 33% in the age group 3545. It was found

that 57% CDPOs were post graduate with only 6% being undergraduates. About 31% of CDPOs were having less

than 3 years of experience which was re ective of freuent transfers of this category of functionary in some States.

Profle o BenefciariesExpenditure on different services has gone up more than three times (from 144.00 crore during 19901991 to

452.36 crore during 20042005) in 15 years. The scenario is similar to the number of bene ciaries under variousservicesall categories of bene ciaries have gone up three times during the period under reference.

Target Population in Sample Households

Data indicate that 0.83% of children in households covered under the study are handicapped. Out of these children,

55.56% children have been receiving bene ts from ICDS programme.

Maximum percentage of bene ciaries were from backward classes (29.6%) followed by scheduled castes (26.3%).

Differences between representation of other castes and that of scheduled tribes was meagre (21.4% and 20.4%,

respectively).

It was found that 55% of them were landless while another 28% owned land which was less than one hectare. It

was found that less than 8% possessed land holding between one and two and above two hectares. Those who

possessed land more than four hectares were residing in hilly, desert and tribal areas.

Six out of ten families of bene ciaries were nuclear while joint family constituted one-third of all types of families.

Data demonstrated that in urban areas 62% families were nuclear while this type of family constituted almost

similar percentage in rural (59.0%) and tribal (59.8%) projects. Increasing trend of extended families was seen in

regular ICDS projects (7.03%) and drastic reduction in other categories of projects (4.12% in World Bank projects

and 4.80% in NGO-run projects).

Six out of ten families (59.7%) conformed to the national gure in respect of size of families (up to 5 persons),

followed by 36% of households having family members between six and ten. Another interesting nding is that

households with 11 and above family members constituted 4%. Normal belief is that urban households are nuclear

and smaller in family size but the data revealed that even urban ICDS projects also recorded family size between

six and ten (32.7%).

A little over 60% families under World Bank assisted ICDS projects (62.48%) had monthly income less than Rs.

2000/- per month, followed by NGO-run projects (51.41%) and regular ICDS projects had this share with 47%

of households. Income of households was analysed as per location of projects in rural, tribal and urban areas. It

revealed that a little over half (52.8%) tribal families had income less than Rs. 2000/-, followed by rural families

(49.5%). Forty per cent urban families belonged to this income group. Four out of ten families in urban projects

had also income ranging between Rs. 2000/- and Rs. 4000/- per month, followed by rural (32.1%) and tribal

projects (30.4%).


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Main Occupation o Sample Households

One-fourth of heads of households (25.7%) had non-agriculture labour as main occupation, maximum being in

urban areas (36.4%), followed by heads of households in rural areas (24.2%) and tribal areas (21.9%). It was

interesting to know that a little over one-third of respondents of tribal projects (34.3%) were cultivators who

constituted 27% in rural ICDS projects. Cultivators in urban projects were those who lived on fringe of urban areas

and went to adjoining villages for cultivation were of negligible percentage (3.4%). Percentage of self employed

and agricultural labourers was almost equal (16.0%). Self employed were mostly blacksmiths, carpenters, cattle

grazers, potters, shoe makers, weavers, petty shop keepers etc. Around 12% were in serviceGovernment, semi-

government, private companies etc.

Coordination in ICDS Project level Coordination Committee

More than 70% projects of rural and tribal areas were having Coordination Committee at the project level, whereas

urban projects (83%) were having Coordination Committee at project level. So far as existence of Coordination

Committee at project level by type of management is concerned, regular ICDS projects and projects supported by

World Bank were having lesser number of Coordination Committees as compared to the projects run by NGOs.In urban regular ICDS projects more than 80% CDPOs, Supervisors and health functionaries reported adequate

coordination at their level. In NGO-run projects, coordination at CDPO level was somewhat adequate but at the

eld/village level, it was not up to the mark. The situation is similar to tribal projects too. Coordination with health

department was somewhat lacking at eld/village level especially in tribal areas. By and large coordination at

project level was found to be satisfactory. A little over two-third (68%) CDPOs were of the view that meeting of

Coordination Committee was effective whereas about one- fth (21%) found it very effective. The Research team

found that around 73 per cent CDPOs had reported adequate coordination between ICDS and health functionaries.

But remaining 27% mentioned inadequate coordination.

Source: Three Decades of ICDS An Appraisal , Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, 2007

available at: www.wcd.nic.in

1.11 Recommendations

a) Universalisation

Government of India must operationalise at least 14 lakhs anganwadis by December 2008 and present to

the Supreme Court a plan for putting up these additional centres. This plan should include details of how all

rural habitations and urban slums are proposed to be covered.

A simple procedure for setting up an anganwadi on demand must be put in place so that an AWC is

sanctioned and operationalised within three months of such a demand being made, in accordance with the

order of the Supreme Court dated 13th, December 2006.

b) Equity

AWCs in SC / ST hamlets Universalisation must ensure that all habitations with majority SC/St

population are provided with an anganwadi centre on a priority basis. The state governments must get


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conducted through District Collectors a survey of habitations with majority SC/ST population and ensure

availability of anganwadi centres in all of these.

Special provisions should be made for the inclusion of marginalized children in ICDS, including

differently-abled children, street children, and children of migrant families. For instance, migrant children

should be entitled to admission at the nearest Anganwadi without any requirement of permanent residence

in that area. Simply the presence of a child of the appropriate age group should be suf cient to ualify the

child for admission to all services of the anganwadi.

Monitoring data of the ICDS should be disaggregated on the basis of sex, SC, ST and disability. A

disability survey must be conducted at regular intervals and ways of including disabled children in the

ICDS programme must be worked out. The data should also be provided separately for urban and rural

areas.

Severe malnutrition: Rehabilitation facilities (e.g. Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres) should be available at

the PHC level for children suffering from Grade 3 or 4 malnutrition, and their mothers. Anganwadi workers

should be responsible for identifying such children and referring them to rehabilitation facilities. Financial

provision should be made to support these childrens families during the period of rehabilitation. Also,

these children should be entitled to enhanced food rations under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme.

ICDS and the Health Department should be jointly responsible for the prevention of severe malnutritionand hunger deaths.

c) Supplementary Nutrition Programme

Make adequate budget allocations for the ICDS programme so as to be able to provide SNP to every child

under six, every pregnant and lactating mother and every adolescent girl.

Cost norms: A provision of at least Rs. 3/- per child per day (at 20062007 prices) should be made for SNP

in the 36 age group. This is similar to the current norms for mid-day meals in primary schools (two rupees

per child per day, plus 100 grams of grain). To achieve this norm, central assistance of at least Rs 1.50 per

child per day would be reuired. The cost norms should be adjusted for in ation every two years using a

suitable price index.

Children under three should be provided with take-home rations (or hot cooked and mashed food where

they are able to come to the centre every day)

Hot cooked meal for children in the 36 year old age group: Children in the 36 year age group should

be provided a hot cooked meal at the anganwadi centre everyday. The SNP so provided should be age-

appropriate, culturally appropriate, nutritious and locally procured.

d) Second Anganwadi WorkerA major effort should be made to extend ICDS services to all children under the age of three years, without

affecting the entitlements of children in the 36 age group. In particular, this would involve posting a

second Anganwadi worker in each Anganwadi (see below). Her primary responsibility would be to take

care of children under three as well as pregnant or nursing mothers. This new focus would also involve

giving much greater attention to infant and young child feeding , nutrition counselling, ante-natal care and

related matters.


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e) Right to in ormation

All ICDS related information should be in the public domain. The provisions of the Right to Information

Act, including pro-active disclosure of essential information (Section 4), should be implemented in letter

and spirit in the context of ICDS. All agreements with private contractors (if any) and NGOs should be

pro-actively disclosed and made available in convenient form for public scrutiny. All AWCs should be sign-

posted and the details of ICDS entitlements and services should be painted on the walls of each Anganwadi.

Social audits of ICDS should be conducted at regular intervals in Gram Sabhas and/or on health and

nutrition day .

Note: For Commissioners recommendations on ICDS also see special report on ICDS Update on compliance of

orders related to ICDS and some further recommendations , from Commissioners to the Supreme Court, dated 30

August 2007.


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National Programme o Nutritional Support to Primary Education,2006[Mid Day Meal Scheme]

GuidelinesThe revised norms for midday meal as shown in the table below increased the calories to be provided through the

meal from 300 to 450.

Nutritional Content Norm as per NP-NSPE, 2004 Revised Norm as per NP-NSPE, 2006

Calories 300 450

Protein 812 12

Micronutrients Not prescribedAdequate quantities of micronutrients like iron, folic

acid, Vitamin A etc.

Further, the assistance from Central Government under NP-NSPE, 2006 will be as under:

Supply of free food grains (wheat/rice) at 100 grams per child per School Day from the nearest FCI(i)godown

Reimburse the actual cost incurred in transportation of food grains from nearest FCI godown to the(ii)Primary School subject to the following ceiling:

Rs.100 per Quintal for 11 special category States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram,

Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, and Rs.75 per quintal

for all other States and UTs.

Provide assistance for cooking cost at the following rates:

(a) States in North-Eastern Region at Rs. 1.80 per child per school day, provided the State Govt.

contributes a minimum of 20 paise

(b) For Other States & UTs at Rs. 1.50 per child per school day provided the State Govt./UT

Admn. Contributes a minimum of 50 paise

State Governments/UT Administrations will be required to provide the above minimum contribution in order to be

eligible for the enhanced rate of Central assistance mentioned above.

Provide assistance for cooked Mid-Day Meal during summer vacations to school children in areas declared

by State Governments as drought-affected .

Provide assistance to construct kitchen-cum-store in a phased manner up to a maximum of Rs. 60,000/- per

unit. However, as allocations under MDMS for construction of kitchen-cum-store for all schools in next

23 years may not be adequate, States would be expected to proactively pursue convergence with other


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development programmes for this purpose.

Provide assistance in a phased manner for provisioning and replacement of kitchen devices at an average

cost of Rs. 5,000/- per school. States/UT Administration will have the exibility to incur expenditure on the

items listed below on the basis of the actual requirements of the school (provided that the overall average

for the State/ UT Administration remains Rs. 5000/- per school):

Cooking devices (Stove, Chulha, etc)o

Containers for storage of food grains and other ingredientso

Utensils for cooking and serving.o

Provide assistance to States/ UTs for Management, Monitoring & Evaluation (MME) at the rate of 1.8% of

total assistance on (a) free food grains, (b) transport cost and (c) cooking cost. Another 0.2% of the above

amount will be utilized at the Central Government for management, monitoring and evaluation.

2.2 Coverage

The Supreme Court in its order dated November 28th, 2001 directed that The State Governments /Union

Territories to implement the Mid Day Meal Scheme by providing every child in every Government and

Government assisted Primary Schools with a prepared mid day meal with a minimum content of 300 calories and812 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days . Although the states were initially slow in

implementing this order, it is seen that presently in all the states provision of a cooked mid-day meal for primary

students has become the policy. Some states have also extended the scheme to cover children in the upper primary

schools. Seeing that the 28th November 2001 order of the Court had not been implemented, in the order dated 17

October 2004, this Court directed that every child eligible 18 for the cooked meal under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme

in all States and Union Territories, shall be provided with the said meal immediately and, in any case, not later than

the month of January, 2005.

The table below looks at coverage of children under the mid-day meal scheme vis--vis enrolment of children in

government schools.

18 All children enrolled from class I to V in Government, Government aided or local body schools or in EGS or AIE schools are eligi-All children enrolled from class I to V in Government, Government aided or local body schools or in EGS or AIE schools are eligi-

ble for the mid day meal.


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Table 2.1 Percentage o Children enrolled in Government Schools(including private-aided and EGS/AIE centres)who are benefciaries o Mid Day Meal scheme 20062007

State/UT Enrolment MDM Bene ciaries % enrolled children who are bene ciaries

Andhra Pradesh* 6700878 6700878 100.0

Arunachal Pradesh 218905 218905 100.0

Chandigarh* 59993 59993 100.0

Chhattisgarh* 3104573 3104573 100.0

Delhi* 1142020 1142020 100.0

Himachal Pradesh 530016 530016 100.0

Jammu & Kashmir 975954 975954 100.0

Manipur* 299859 299859 100.0

Meghalaya 627596 627596 100.0

Mizoram 93192 93192 100.0

Orissa* 5002269 5002269 100.0

Punjab* 1466299 1466299 100.0

Rajasthan* 7335359 7335359 100.0

Sikkim 102520 102520 100.0

Uttar Pradesh* 18644467 18644467 100.0

Uttaranchal* 779826 754785 96.8

Gujarat* 5278984 5036021 95.4

Haryana 1573698 1443761 91.7

West Bengal 10205750 9195381 90.1

Kerala 2160354 1909491 88.4

Karnataka 4413471 3852508 87.3

Madhya Pradesh 8914634 7611372 85.4

Maharashtra* 9440846 8054552 85.3


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Assam 4700623 3525467 75.0

Tamil Nadu 4968668 3647086 73.4

Jharkhand 5200283 3597579 69.2

Bihar 12638427 8581264 67.9

Source: Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) of State Governments submitted to MoHRD for 20072008*For these stats the gures are for the year 20052006 taken from AWP&B for 20062007

As seen in table 1, most states reported full coverage of enrolled children under the mid-day meal scheme. The

states that did not report full coverage are Uttaranchal, Gujarat, Haryana, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya

Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Bihar. Jharkhand and Bihar reported coverage of a little

less than 70% of the children who were enrolled in primary schools in government or private-aided schools and

EGS/AIE centres. In the Annual Work Plan documents the common reasons given by the state governments for

non-coverage of some children are as follows:

Children refuse to eat/ parents prevent children from eating

Private aided schools have not yet started provision of mid-day meal schemes

2.3 Utilisation o oodgrains

In the table below, we look at the allocation and offtake of foodgrains under the mid-day meal scheme. At an all-

India level it is seen that in the year 20052006, only 76.8% of the grain allocated for the mid-day meal scheme

was actually lifted by the state governments. Since the allocations are based on estimates of enrolments and

attendance, this means that either not all institutions/children were covered under the mid-day meal scheme or that

the quality of the mid-day meal was compromised in the sense that not enough quantity of food was given to thechildren or that mid-day meal was not provided on all working days.


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Table 2.2 State-wise Allocation and O take under Mid Day Meals Scheme (20052006)(In 000 Tonnes)

State/UTs Rice Wheat Total % Offtake

Allocation Offtake Allocation Offtake Allocation Offtake

Mizoram 1.84 2 0 0 1.84 2 108.7

Uttaranchal 14.18 14.69 0 0 14.18 14.69 103.6

Andhra Pradesh 114.1 115.4 0 0 114.1 115.4 101.1

Kerala 28.22 27.62 0 0 28.22 27.62 97.9

Himachal Pradesh 11.45 10.85 0 0 11.45 10.85 94.8

Meghalaya 10.04 9 0 0 10.04 9 89.6

Tamil Nadu 76.59 68.42 0 0 76.59 68.42 89.3

Sikkim 2.13 1.89 0 0 2.13 1.89 88.7

Gujarat 33.96 30.3 33.96 29.59 67.92 59.89 88.2

Tripura 9.88 8.46 0 0 9.88 8.46 85.6

Madhya Pradesh 46.46 37.66 144.62 125.24 191.08 162.9 85.3

Uttar Pradesh 225.1 190.6 110.87 95.61 335.97 286.21 85.2

Delhi 10.08 9.36 10.08 7.25 20.16 16.61 82.4

Orissa 104.11 85.57 0 0 104.11 85.57 82.2

Haryana 14.34 16.21 14.34 6.93 28.68 23.14 80.7

Manipur 6.54 5.24 0 0 6.54 5.24 80.1

West Bengal 205.42 161.99 0 0 205.42 161.99 78.9

Jharkhand 82.69 64.16 0 0 82.69 64.16 77.6

Pondicherry 0.88 0.65 0 0 0.88 0.65 73.9

Assam 92.13 67.54 0 0 92.13 67.54 73.3

Karnataka 107.83 79.91 5.03 2.55 112.86 82.46 73.1

Nagaland 3.76 2.75 0 0 3.76 2.75 73.1

Bihar 218.07 157.02 0 0 218.07 157.02 72.0


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Maharashtra 207.81 149.59 0 0 207.81 149.59 72.0

Arunachal Pradesh 4.54 3.13 0 0 4.54 3.13 68.9

Rajasthan 58.83 31.93 137.28 90.4 196.11 122.33 62.4

Jammu and Kashmir 18.76 8.77 0 0 18.76 8.77 46.7

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

0.67 0.25 0 0 0.67 0.25 37.3

Punjab 12.8 3.05 15.26 5.71 28.06 8.76 31.2

Daman and Diu 0.3 0.09 0 0 0.3 0.09 30.0

Dadra and

Nagar Haveli0.61 0.17 0 0 0.61 0.17 27.9

Goa 1.41 0.11 0 0 1.41 0.11 7.8

Chandigarh 0 0 1.01 0 1.01 0 0.0

Chhattisgarh 52.35 0 0 0 52.35 0 0.0

Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0 0 0

India 1777.88 1364.38 472.45 363.28 2250.33 1727.66 76.8

Source: Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Govt. of India

Looking at state-wise variations states that lifted less than even 50% of the foodgrain allocated them for the

purpose of mid-day meal provision are Jammu and Kashmir (46.7%), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (37.3%),

Punjab (31.2%), Daman and Diu (30%), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (27.9%) and Goa (7.8%). Further, Chandigarh,

Chattigarh and Lakshadweep show zero offtake. Of these Chhattisgarh being a rice producer, it is known that uses

grain from the state for mid-day meal.

2.4 Percent o children covered under MDMS based on o take o oodgrain

In this section we look at the offtake of food grains in the year 20052006 and estimate the number of children

this would be suf cient for if children were provided 100 grams a day for 220 days in the year. While providing100 grams a day is the norm, 220 working days is considered as the average number of working days in a year

accounting for school holidays etc. and is the gure used by the education departments in the various states to

estimate requirements.


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State/UTs Offtake of foodgrain

(in 000 tonnes)*

No. of children who could have been provided MDM

based on offtake of foodgrain (in lakhs)**

1 2

Sikkim 1.89 0.86

Mizoram 2 0.91

Uttaranchal 14.69 6.68

Madhya Pradesh 162.9 74.05

Himachal Pradesh 10.85 4.93

Andhra Pradesh 115.4 52.45

Manipur 5.24 2.38

Karnataka 82.46 37.48

Orissa 85.57 38.90

Tamil Nadu 68.42 31.10

Tripura 8.46 3.85

Nagaland 2.75 1.25

Jharkhand 64.16 29.16

Uttar Pradesh 286.21 130.10

Maharashtra 149.59 68.00

Meghalaya 9 4.09

West Bengal 161.99 73.63

Kerala 27.62 12.55

Arunachal Pradesh 3.13 1.42

Assam 67.54 30.70

Haryana 23.14 10.52

Delhi 16.61 7.55

Pondicherry 0.65 0.30

Bihar 157.02 71.37


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Rajasthan 122.33 55.60

Gujarat 59.89 27.22

Jammu and Kashmir 8.77 3.99

Andaman and

Nicobar Islands0.25 0.11

Daman and Diu 0.09 0.04

Punjab 8.76 3.98

Dadra and

Nagar Haveli0.17 0.08

Goa 0.11 0.05

India 1727.66 785.30

** (Calculated on the basis of no. of grams of foodgrain offtake)/(220days)/(100gms per child). No. of children is then presentedin terms of no. of lakhs of children.


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7threport of commissioners

Documents